1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a machine for the multi bagging of particulate fluent material. More specifically, the present invention is directed: to a multi bagging machine which includes an elongate hopper and discharge chutes located at the bottom of the hopper and which utilizes slide gates located as close to a feed auger as possible for controlling the dispensing of particulate fluent material from the discharge chutes and prevent clogging of the chutes; to separate drive mechanisms for driving an auger shaft and an agitator shaft, the latter at a slower speed to facilitate flow of the fluent particulate material in the hopper; to a plurality of reverse direction auger flights for improving flow of particulate fluent material to each discharge chute; to agitator blade configuration, alignment and size to improve agitation of the fluent material; to a semicircular bottom trough closely adjacent the auger flights for minimizing clogging of the auger; and, to positioning of the discharge chutes as close to a front side of the hopper as possible to facilitate ease of use by a user and to offset auger delivery of fluent material to the chutes to inhibit clogging of the auger and chutes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, various types of machines for filling bags with fluent particulate material, such as sand, have been proposed. More specifically, sandbagging machines have been proposed for bagging sand and other particulate fluent material. Several examples of previously proposed fluent material dispensing machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,437,318 and 5,417,261, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In the Kanzler et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,261 there is disclosed an apparatus for dispensing fluent material into containers, where swing gates are pivotally mounted to discharge chutes for swinging or pivotal movement between an open position and a closed position under a discharge opening at the lower end of each discharge chute. The swing gate is connected to a linkage mechanism which is operable by a foot pedal for opening and closing the associated chute for dispensing fluent material from the discharge chute into a container such as a bag.
The Kanzler et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,318 discloses a fluent material dispensing apparatus including a hopper with inclined front and rear walls which converge to a generally flat bottom that has a plurality of discharge chutes extending downwardly therefrom. An auger is positioned along the bottom of the hopper above the discharge chutes for moving particulate fluent material, such as sand, across open upper ends of the discharge chutes for assisting in the dispensing of the fluent material from the discharge chutes.
Also, In the Kanzler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,950, there is disclosed a fluent material dispensing apparatus having an agitator shaft with agitating blades mounted thereon positioned above the auger shaft in the hopper.